Double-crust apple pie
with buckwheat crust
A fruit-filled, double-crusted beauty is a fairytale for most.

Including me. Until I used buckwheat dough for my crust,
and suddenly the raw flaccid base was banished like a dragon.

Pies need you to reach three goals at the same time – no soggy
bottom (bake it well), a perfectly cooked filling (not overcooked
and slumpy, not under and crunchy) and an unburnt top crust
(don’t bake it too far). Mixing apple varieties will give you a
textural and nuanced flavour range. I don’t love to see the apple
underneath (unlike with cherries or stone fruit), so my top crust

method is a compromise – a slattice, as ingeniously named by

piemaster Erin Jeanne McDowell. I am not a mile-high piler –
a restrained height gets you more crust per slice. And I always
recommend applying ‘The Lasagne Law’ to your large fruit
pies: don’t dive straight into a hot pie. Always rest post-bake
to almost room temperature to avoid gushy layers.

Bring the dough to a cool, pliable rolling temperature and halve into
two equal portions.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll one dough portion out to a
circle 4 mm (⅛ in) thick and 30 cm (12 in) wide. Invert a 25 cm
(10 in) metal or enamel pie dish on top and start cutting 1 cm
(½ in) away from the tin to make a neat circle of dough. Place the
circle carefully on a tray lined with baking paper. Chill.

Collect up the offcuts and fold them onto the top of the second portion
of dough. Roll this out to a 34 cm (13½ in) circle, invert the dish again
and cut a circle 3 cm (1¼ in) larger than the tin edge. Place this circle
into the ungreased dish, then press to follow the contours of the pie
dish and leave the overhang. Chill while you prepare the filling.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F) and place your heaviest baking
tray in the base of the oven.

continued …

Keeps Best eaten warm on the day it

is baked. It can be kept chilled for up
to 2 days and refreshed in a low oven.

Makes A pie for 6–8 people.

Takes If the dough is already made,

30 minutes to prepare, 1 hour to bake
and 3–4 hours to cool.

1 × batch Super flaky
buckwheat crust (page 76)
6–7 mixed apple varieties,
to give 750 g (1 lb 11 oz)
prepared weight
½ nutmeg
100 g (3½ oz) raw caster
(superfine) sugar
40 g (1½ oz) unsalted butter,
very soft and squidgy
20 g (¾ oz) cornflour
(cornstarch)
2 g (¹⁄₁₆oz/½ teaspoon) sea salt
flakes
2 g (¹⁄₁₆oz/1 teaspoon) freshly
ground cinnamon
1 g (¹⁄₃₂oz/¼ teaspoon) ground
cloves
To finish
egg wash made with 1 egg yolk
and a pinch of salt
20 g (¾ oz) raw caster
(superfine) sugar